Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Blackwolf Ponders: Is Fox Dead?

Billionaire and icon Ted Turner, speaking with Bloomberg Television the other night, says that fellow super-rich guy Rupert Murdoch will eventually be forced to relinquish his post as CEO of News Corp in the wake of the recent controversial phone-hacking scandal that forced the 168-year-old London-based tabloid News of the World out of existence. "I think he's gonna hafta step down," Ted said. "He hadn't survived anything like this. This is serious ..... he should have known. He was chairman of the board. He's responsible. I took responsibility when I ran my company. You never heard me say, 'Well, I didn't know.' "

In case you Mortals tuned in late, News Corp has come under fire over allegations that the top guns in charge of News of the World had hacked into the voice-mails of murder victims and had paid off the top brass at Scotland Yard for certain stories. The resulting controversy saw the parent company not only shutting down News of the World, but also dropping its $12.2 billion bid to achieve total control of its British Sky Broadcasting unit.

Ted, lad, I feel that I have to agree with you on this one. Indeed, when you controlled Turner Broadcasting, you were always responsible --- from the days when you founded the Goodwill Games to the time you had the idea for Captain Planet --- no one in corporate America was more a responsible gentleman than you. Alas, these days, corporate responsibility in America today seems to be little more than an afterthought, and far too easily ignored. This is why, back in ye day, King Arthur made that Round Table the centerpiece of Camelot --- because he felt the need to make damn certain that his Knights fought and battled and did their thing in a responsible, meaningful manner.

Why do you think Spider-man continues to live by that mantra to this day: ".....With great power comes great responsibility." Yet, by the same token, it's also the reason Voldemort makes the opposite argument: "There is neither good nor evil; there is only power, and those too weak to seek it." In a Multiverse post-9/11, the time Dumbledore foresaw of yore is now upon us: when we will have to choose between that which is right and that which is easy.